


sea creatures

by sleeponrooftops



Series: lifeboats [8]
Category: The Almighty Johnsons
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-13
Updated: 2013-04-13
Packaged: 2017-12-08 09:25:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/759773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleeponrooftops/pseuds/sleeponrooftops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grandpa takes the boys to the beach.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sea creatures

For no reason Mike can understand, their mother starts staying home with the nanny, but she mostly keeps herself cooped up in her room or wanders around the house with Ty, cooing to him.  Mike always hates the latter because then _he_ can’t have time with Ty, but Anders keeps him preoccupied enough that he can ignore it.

 

When summer rolls around, Ty’s third birthday has just passed, Anders is seven, and Mike is eleven.  Anders learned about sea animals in school the past year, and he keeps begging Mike to bring him to the library so he can check out books on the ocean.  He flips through them with Ty, naming the different animals in the pictures, and Mike watches them from his bed where he’s reading.  This goes on for two weeks before Ty says, “I wanna see the ocean.”  Anders looks over at Mike with this look on his face like that had never occurred to him, and Mike’s already making his way toward the door when Anders starts to repeat Ty’s want.

 

He calls grandpa and gets his voicemail, so he leaves him a message about picking them up in the morning before he goes surfing.  He gets no response by the end of the day, but grandpa shows up anyway, rousing Mike at an ungodly time.  “Get your brothers up and dressed.  I’ll make you breakfast,” he whispers, and Mike nods, yawning.

 

He gets himself ready first—brushes his teeth and smoothes down his hair before he dresses and packs his backpack with one of Anders’ library books, one of his own books, and things for Ty.  He gets them each a spare change of clothes and towels, stuffs those in his backpack, and then wakes Anders first, smiling when he yawns largely and then squirms upright in realization.  “We’re going to the ocean?” he asks excitedly, and Mike just nods, ruffling his hair.

 

“Go brush your teeth and comb your hair, and then come back and get dressed.”

 

“Thank you, Mikey!” he says, hugging his brother tightly before sliding off the bed and running from the room, little feet slapping against the ground.  He’s still little, even at seven, and he still gets picked on, but he just shrugs it off now, and Mike watches him go with a smile on his face.

 

Ty is stirring in his new big boy bed, and he’s just waking up when Mike goes over to him and pushes his black hair away from his forehead.  “Ocean?” Ty asks sleepily, and Mike nods.

 

“Yeah, come on, gotta get ready.”

 

He helps Ty down from the bed and leads him from the room into the bathroom, where Anders is standing on the little stool he used to use for the windowsill so he can reach the sink.  He sets Ty up standing on the toilet, staying in there while they finish up before he carries Ty back into their room, Anders skipping along ahead of them, humming to himself.  Once they’re all dressed in swim trunks, t-shirts, and sweatshirts, they head downstairs, Mike’s backpack slung over his shoulder, and Ty leaning his head against the other, yawning.

 

Grandpa has pancakes waiting for them in the kitchen, and they all eat hungrily while he brings Mike’s backpack out to the car and then hunts around for a pair of flip flops for each of them.  Anders and Ty both fall asleep on the ride to the beach, Ty snuggled up against his older brother.  Mike dozes, curled up in the passenger seat, watching the world go by until grandpa’s parking at the beach and getting out to unload his surfboard.  Mike wakes his brothers before going to get his backpack, and they all head down to the beach together, Ty on Mike’s hip and Anders holding his hand.

 

It’s still early, just barely eight o’clock, but grandpa makes them all wear sunscreen, and then Mike turns to his brothers and says, “Don’t go too far in, and stay close to me, okay?”

 

“Okay!” Anders exclaims, dancing from foot to foot, staring at the ocean excitedly.

 

“Okay!” Ty mimics him, looking over at Anders expectantly, and Anders graces him with a wide beam.

 

“Alright then, c’mon,” Mike says, grinning, and Anders takes off at a headlong sprint.  Mike lets him go because Ty wants to try walking in the sand, and he holds his hand while Ty stumbles along.  He’s only halfway to the water, though, when Anders turns around and jogs back to his brothers, taking Ty’s other hand.  They walk down together, and Anders tells Mike he’ll be fine with Ty, so Mike goes out to his waist and then dunks under, remembering what grandpa taught him about swimming and holding your breath.  He’s not a great swimmer—he’s only had a handful of lessons—but he can get by, and he spends a little time swimming around while Anders plays with Ty at the coastline before he goes back to them.  Ty squeals and giggles everytime the water touches his toes, and Anders just laughs at him and splashes around until both he and Ty are soaked.  When Mike comes back, he scoops Ty up and brings him out a little ways, stopping when Anders does.

 

To Mike’s surprise, grandpa only spends an hour surfing before he leaves his board up by their things and comes back down, claiming he’s going to teach Anders how to swim.  And so Mike spends a while playing with Ty splashing in the water until grandpa and Anders take a break, and then they go hunting for seashells along the beach.

 

Grandpa doesn’t go surfing for the rest of the day, but instead spends it with his grandsons, chasing Anders around in the water, teaching Mike how to skip rocks, and running from the waves with Ty.  They stay until dusk is settling, and then grandpa brings them to one of the beach restaurants where they try seafood, and Ty sticks his tongue out until Mike rolls his eyes and asks for French fries.  Anders loves everything he tries, though he looks horrified everytime he asks grandpa what he just ate.  Mike sticks to a burger, watching his brother in amusement.

 

When they’re finished, they go back to the beach and lay out under the stars, Ty in between Anders and Mike, and it’s a while before grandpa stretches and calls for them to pack up.  “Mike and Ty are asleep,” Anders whispers after he’s disentangled himself from them.

 

“Can you carry Ty?” grandpa asks.  Anders nods before going to pack up their things, stuffing it all in Mike’s backpack.  Grandpa takes it when he’s done, slings it over his shoulders, and then he kneels, taking Mike into his arms and standing, laughing a little.  “He’s heavy,” he says to Anders, who giggles and goes over to grandpa’s surfboard, pushing it upward until grandpa can get it tucked under his arm.  When he’s done, he goes over to Ty and carefully picks him up, smiling when Ty makes a soft noise and snuggles into him.

 

Mike doesn’t wake the whole ride home, but Ty does, though he just stares around sleepily, holding onto Anders’ hand, his other arm draped around his brother’s shoulders.  When they get home, grandpa carries Mike upstairs and Anders takes Ty, but, before he can leave, Anders hugs grandpa tightly and says, “Thank you, grandpa.  I really love the ocean.  Maybe we can go again.”

 

“Maybe we’ll even go surfing together someday,” he says, tapping Anders on the nose, and Anders just giggles and turns over in his bed, settling in for sleep.


End file.
